“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese proverb When it comes to integrated pest management, we talk, a lot, about prevention. Keeping mice and brown marmorated stink bugs out is preferable to dealing with them once they’re in your house. So remember those…Continue Reading What’s Bugging You? – Missed Opportunities
“We should have little trouble with vermin if builders would hear and understand the ‘language’ of vermin and do a better job in eliminating their entrances and hiding place.” – Hugo Hartnak, 1939 Pests enter school buildings in one of two ways: they are transported in by students, staff, or delivery truck or they make…Continue Reading Back to School – Keeping the Rodents Outside
Our friends over at Cornell’s Pesticide Management Education Program (psep.cce.cornell.edu) have asked us to help spread information on disinfectants and sanitizers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in adverse health effects from the misuse of these products. There have also been several fraudulent products produced during this time that potential applicators should…Continue Reading The Pesticide Management Education Program Warns of Unregistered or Off-label Claims for Disinfectant Use
THE NATIONAL HEALTHY SCHOOL DAY Organization shares this: Most schools and childcares are closed. They can work NOW towards healthier facilities for all children when they re-open. National #HealthySchoolsDay is April 7 and the theme is COVID19 and the impact on children. . National #HealthySchoolsDay is Tuesday, April 7. “This annual day of focus on…Continue Reading National Healthy Schools Day 2020
This is the third and final post dedicated to tactics of school IPM most appropriate to the current situation of shuttered schools. (If your building is open to provide meals for at-home students, we applaud your efforts!) Post #1 Scouting, Post #2 Exclusion. Sanitation is a third step in structural pest management, as it reduces…Continue Reading Timely School IPM Tip #3: Sanitation
THIS IS A REPOST OF a JUNE 2015 SCHOOL IPM Blog post by Joellen Lampman. The timing is significant. Closed school buildings are the perfect time to tackled sanitation and exclusion efforts that are hard to manage with students in the building. If your school cafeteria is providing meals (thank you!), we’ll also be posting…Continue Reading Pests Take Advantage of Quiet School Buildings
A common pest in homes is the red-eyed fruit fly: Drosophila melanogaster. Famous for use in genetic studies, and infamous for emerging from store-bought bananas, management of this fly rarely requires more than discarding infested items outside of the home. Management of this fly’s cousin, the dark-eyed fruit fly (Drosophila repleta), also requires elimination of…Continue Reading Fruit Flies of a Different (eye) Color
After a long winter, warm weather is a welcome change. But no season is perfect. The air is abuzz with the zzzzzzzzzzz’ing of mosquitoes, a small insect that more than makes up for its size in its capacity to annoy. But mere annoyance is not the extent of the problem with mosquitoes. Itching and swelling…Continue Reading Tis the Zzzzzzzzzz Season
Spring! Time to fling open the windows, plant some flowers — and begin the annual tradition of spring-cleaning. But are you getting to all those places where pests find food, water, or shelter? Householders tend to overlook these five places. And they could be just the spots where pests come for a free meal or…Continue Reading Top 5 Pest Hangouts — in Your Kitchen
School kitchens, cafeterias, and food storage areas provide great habitat for mice. And it takes real dedication and attention to detail to deep-clean those hard to reach places. But here’s why you’ve got to: Mouse droppings, urine, and even the greasy sebum trail — grease marks from protective oils on rodent fur —aren’t just health…Continue Reading Mice in Your School? Who’s Job Is It, Anyway?